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Conservation Treatment

It is important to differentiate between conservation of general collections and conservation of special collections. The former refers to the repair and protective housing of general library collections that are shelved in open stacks, while the latter refers to treatment by a professional conservator of library materials that have been separated from the general collection because of their value as artifacts, as well as archival materials, scrapbooks, photographs, etc.

Collections conservation (also sometimes known as in-house repair when on a smaller scale) can be an important element of a systematic preservation program for academic and public libraries. For those institutions that are concerned primarily with special collections materials, however, in-house repair is usually not appropriate. In all cases, it is important to follow proper procedures for repair, since unintended damage can result from improper repairs.

Professional conservation treatment, while not appropriate for every deteriorated item, should be considered by any type of institution for deteriorated materials that possess significant artifactual, historic, associational, legal, aesthetic, or financial value as artifacts. A conservator's goal is to chemically stabilize and physically strengthen the item(s) being treated. Conservation treatment by a professional conservator is time-consuming and costly, so it must be limited to those materials that are the most valuable and the most deteriorated.